Renewables

Attorney and economist Michael Shuman is the Vice President for Enterprise Development for the Training and Development Corporation, based in Bucksport, Maine. In this candid interview he talks about local money, our current model of economic development and the challenges involved in rebuilding local communities.

The Reality Report hosts Greg Pahl, prolific author of five books on sustainable living and renewable energy. This show discusses his most recent book, “The Citizen Powered Energy Handbook: Community Solutions to a Global Crisis.” Greg explains how community based renewable energy projects are key to local economic revival and security and encourages listeners to learn more by going to www.postcarbon.org.

Julian Darley presents an overview of the United States' unsustainable energy practices and makes the case for Relocalization from the point of business. The tale of the 20,000-mile long coal train....

The new House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held its first offical hearing with witnesses from the Sierra Club to the former head of the CIA. Several Republican members of the committee were still dragging their heels, but the witnesses agreed across the board that global warming was real, that human activities were worsening global warming, and that the peoples of the world face a crisis that requires urgent and drastic actions.

Tam Hunt outlines a strategy for regional independence from fossil fuels -- and it centers around electricity. Start with efficiency & conservation, add renewables to replace fossil fuels for electricity, then add more renewables to electrify transportation such as plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. The result? A program "to save America's Environment and Economy one region at a time." Episode 56.

Peak oil educator and author Richard Heinberg discusses what communities can do to prepare for peak oil. He covers transportation, including a novel ride-sharing scheme, assessing municipal vulnerabilities, local food and energy production, as well as the Hirsch report's conclusion that 20 years will be needed to make an energy transition -- very possibly more time than we have. Episode 53.

"...witnesses from three of America’s premier energy research institutions cast grave doubt on the feasibility of reaching President Bush’s State of the Union goal of manufacturing 35 billion gallons a year of alternative fuels by 2017." Post Carbon Institute Communications Director Richard Bell reports.